Gateworld Virtual Fleet 4.0 - Discussion thread

[Princess Awinita]

By drawing energy from the fusion reaction in their fusion engines. It would reduce thrust. Similar to how jet engines power fighter craft. part of the power produced in a turbine is tapped off to produce electricity. that reduces thrust.

the same principle applies to the Machai engines. The same systems that prevent the engine from melting can be used to "reclaim" so to speak some of the power lost, and the cooling can be increased to draw more power at the cost of thrust.

The asgard were better in hyperdrive and transporter technology. We simply CAN not know about power, because if the Asgard were to build a ZPM, the Replicators would've taken it out of the socket and used it to power themselves. Same applies to City Ships: it's simply too big of a target.

As to weapons technology: we have never seen a Drone penetrate an Asgard shield, and i would say they can not. Todd did say he was afraid a single drone would take out the hyperdrive, but the Puddlejumper would have to get inside the shield to get onboard, so obviously that's not conclusive evidence at all.

The Asgard are modulation mages so to speak, as they have shown to make quite some use of it, and the Replicators did too. the Ancients on the other hand seem to deal more with sheer firepower.

What about shields ? Shields require power, which is drawn from one of two sources, the engines or backup power supplies. That itself would reduce speed of the craft in question. Also, weapons reqire power from the engines if they are energy based, or supply roofs if ballistical or slug based. In which the latter would not require power, just space onboard the craft.

Using a technique I have honed on a game my brother gave me some years ago, Called X-Wing vs TIE Fighter {minus Balance of Power bonus disc} I figured out a good speed and weapons setting, but it sacrifices shields. That said, the engines get a boost by a third {to two thirds full power} and the weapons get a quarter boost to three quarters instead of the standard half power. The shields are then redirected evenly between weapons and the engines, providing a constant stream of power for the weapons, and also best possible speed for the engines to go for thrust of the ship, in this case a small snub fighter, wingless, The A-Wing is the perfect craft for this technique.

In fact, The A-Wing is small enough to go through a stargate, presuming here that the A-Wing is the size of fighter we want for our fleet in terms of one man fighters,

On average for me I can get up to 155 on a A-Wing with no shields and engines and weapons at two thirds and three quarters. both of which enables the smallcraft to outfly literally anything

[thekillman]

What about shields ? Shields require power, which is drawn from one of two sources, the engines or backup power supplies. That itself would reduce speed of the craft in question. Also, weapons reqire power from the engines if they are energy based, or supply roofs if ballistical or slug based. In which the latter would not require power, just space onboard the craft.

The designs i have in mind are not definitive, but right now Machai fighters have no shields. Besides, the power from the engines can be used in a variety of ways. Including for extra firepower or for extra shield power (the latter when it's about a Capital ship).

[blackluster]

The designs i have in mind are not definitive, but right now Machai fighters have no shields. Besides, the power from the engines can be used in a variety of ways. Including for extra firepower or for extra shield power (the latter when it's about a Capital ship).

hmm, you lost me there. Are these fusion engines based on reactors that stay lit or are they instantaneously stimulated fusion reactions based on fuel flow? If the former, how is thrust actually being produced?

[Crazy Tom]

hmm, you lost me there. Are these fusion engines based on reactors that stay lit or are they instantaneously stimulated fusion reactions based on fuel flow? If the former, how is thrust actually being produced?

I'm with blackluster, we need more data.

[thekillman]

I'm not sure what you're asking, but the way i imagine it, it's basically a tube in which plasma is contained, and a magnetic "bottle" is used to contain it. the bottle also ensures the plasma gets to fusing conditions (aided by electrical energy input and naquahdah injection), and then it gets accelerated out the back.


Not sure if that helps, not sure how to put it best.

[Gormagon]

The asgard were better in hyperdrive and transporter technology. We simply CAN not know about power, because if the Asgard were to build a ZPM, the Replicators would've taken it out of the socket and used it to power themselves. Same applies to City Ships: it's simply too big of a target.

Mhm.....It was said in the series that the Asgard just kept building better and better technology with which to fight the Replicators. (Which is ultimately a self defeating strategy when dealing with Replicators.) I think if they could have built ZPM's they would have. As far as city ships went, I might agree. But there planetary cities were pretty valuable targets.

As to weapons technology: we have never seen a Drone penetrate an Asgard shield, and i would say they can not. Todd did say he was afraid a single drone would take out the hyperdrive, but the Puddlejumper would have to get inside the shield to get onboard, so obviously that's not conclusive evidence at all.

I would say the can not penetrate advanced Asgard shielding. (The blue shields.) Perhaps...perhaps the most advanced Biliskner shields. Bit I am pretty sure a Drone could go through your normal Biliskners shielding.

The Asgard are modulation mages so to speak, as they have shown to make quite some use of it, and the Replicators did too. the Ancients on the other hand seem to deal more with sheer firepower.

Seem to yes. Although Asgard weapons still pack quite a punch,(One was used to effect an alternate reality bridge thing.) and Drones are pinpoint weapon. I think it was more that they were just designed for different purposes.

[blackluster]

hmmm, I dunno. It was a little confusing how you related it to a turbofan engine since the two aren't really analogous, though maybe that's just because of how I'm conceptualizing it.

I mean in the case of the turbine, that electrical generation stage influences the final thrust because of the resistance caused by the currents in the generator windings, which affects the fan speed which messes with air/fuel compression.

In the case of the fusion engine though that wouldn't really happen since (as far as I understand it), once the reaction starts the output energy is pretty much fixed. What you then do with that energy in terms of recycling it should not have a significant effect on the thrust mechanism though you haven't been too clear on what that mechanism is. At a glance it would either be using the plasma inertia by magnetic acceleration or from the force of the expanding plasma. In either case the thrust can only really be influenced by the amount of reactants present or by the physical dimensions of the reaction cavity which in your case is the magnetic bottle.

For both these mechanisms it isn't too clear how tapping the reaction energy is going to effect the final thrust since the energy by products would still manifest regardless of what you did with them. I suppose you could be referencing some sort of hybrid powercore/drive setup but even there the final thrust isn't really something you'd affect by stealing energy out of the reaction that has already started. Surely you'd just be controlling the fuel flow and the containment field?

[thekillman]

Thrust is generated by the mass you dump out times the speed. the speed is the result of pressure and volume energy being converted. After all, super hot, super dense plasma is suddenly exposed to space, so you have a lot of pressure drop and a lot of volume Work. If you were to draw energy from the superheated fusing plasma, you'd be reducing the amount of energy that can be converted.

Sure, it kind of depends on the amount of energy you draw what impact it has on thrust. I'm not even sure myself how much thrust it'll cost.

EDIT: this is assuming your fuel flow does not change.

back to the drawing board i'd say.

[Crazy Tom]

I would recommend you check out the gas core fission engines on Atomic Rocket, they seem to be pretty close to what you want.

[StargateWatcher]

Mhmm. The time line is kind of fraked up. Some estimates range from 100million years of Ancient history to 65million years to 15.


When you take an objective view really the only race that seriously compete with their technology is the Asgard who had an extra 10k years, the chance to study part of an Ancient data base, and a war with techno bugs to help them advance. The Tollan are comparable in a few areas. The Nox...dont know. They have powerful natural abilities, but mostly unknown technology. A floating city is a far cry from a flying city though. Although who knows? Perhaps they had flying cities.

In what way is the timeline the writers give fracked up out of curiosity?

Who estimtated those as the possible ages of the Ancients?

The Asgard were well aware on how to bypass shields, especially since the Replicators used it against them all the time.

You mean the Reps tried to block their attacking using shields?

[StargateWatcher]

The quality did drop off as the series went on.

some other readers also thought the same; at which book did you feel the series started to decline?

I have read some of those books. The Honor series. I won quite a few actually.

10 extra cool-points to you then hehe ; you mean you got some as a prize?

[thekillman]

You mean the Reps tried to block their attacking using shields?

Yes. and the Replicators bypassed Asgard shields all the time.

[Crazy Tom]

some other readers also thought the same; at which book did you feel the series started to decline?

It's been so long I can't even remember.

[StargateWatcher]

It's been so long I can't even remember.

Gotcha. Did you know Weber had planned to kill off Honor at some point since she's modelled after Nelson?

[Crazy Tom]

Gotcha. Did you know Weber had planned to kill off Honor at some point since she's modelled after Nelson?

I had not. Bet he's not so eager to kill her now that the books have done decently well.